CITRUS HEIGHTS — Less than three months after suspected East Area Rapist and Golden State Killer Joseph DeAngelo was arrested at his Citrus Heights home, two survivors visited Sacramento.
With every book she signs Jane Carson-Sandler shares her pain; her four-decade-old trauma caused by the Golden State Killer.
Community members gathered at a Citrus Heights Barnes and Noble to meet the fifth victim. Being in the neighborhood was tough for her.
“When I arrived at the airport in Sacramento and drove to the hotel on J Street I have to tell you I was a bit anxious,” Carson-Sandler said.
The bookstore is about three miles from her former home, where she was raped back in 1976. It’s also about three miles from the house where DeAngelo was living for decades before being arrested in April.
“To me, the best part of all of this is the bravery of the victims, the recovery, the method that they used to heal and now the sisterhood,” said former Sacramento County Sheriff’s investigator Carol Daly.
As an investigator in the ’70s, Daly formed close bonds with survivors like Carson-Sandler and Debbi Domingo, who are now focused on healing and empowering other victims. Now the women call themselves “sister survivors.”
“Being able to speak on behalf of each other and the hundreds out there who don’t have public voices, it’s been really therapeutic for us,” Domingo said.
Domingo and Carson-Sandler traveled across the country to join together in Citrus Heights. Later in the week, they’ll finally see the man who terrorized their lives in court.
“I hope that they’re gonna let us hold up this banner that says, ‘Now we… have the power and the control,'” Carson-Sandler said.
All of the women say they will be in court on Thursday afternoon when DeAngelo faces a judge.
